About Inductee

In the spring of 1991, longtime Grissom High School basketball coach Ronnie Stapler contacted nationally known sports physiologist Mark Noble with an idea and a proposal. A year earlier, Noble had opened a new clinic in Huntsville called Prevention and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine Associates, or PRSM for short. Grissoms 1990-91 basketball team had recently suffered through a rare losing season. Never one to tolerate mediocrity for long, Stapler decided a full-time athletic trainer might be just the ticket to help improve the situation. "Ronnie suggested that I hire an athletic trainer and insert him into Grissom High School," Noble recalled. "Then he introduced me to the trainer who he had handpicked for me to hire." Noble welcomed his visitors and commended Stapler for his suggestion. "I told Ronnie that I agreed with him," Noble said. "I felt Huntsville was ready for athletic trainers to be placed in the high schools and I understood that the public schools couldnt afford to pay for them. I knew that I alone would be required to bear the cost of salaries and benefits. And I was committed to do that. But after interviewing his proposed trainer, I told Ronnie that I already had another athletic trainer picked out and that my trainer would graduate in a year." A year later, Noble hired Charley Davidson, who had recently graduated with a degree in Athletic Training from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. "Within six months," said Noble, "Ronnie told me that I was right, that Charley was a better trainer than the one he had recommended, and that he was glad I had waited to bring Charley on board." Davidson first served as the head athletic trainer at Grissom and later at Huntsville High School and at Randolph School from 1992 until 2001, when he was promoted to Sports Medicine Coordinator at HealthSouth. In 2003, he was named Director of Sports Medicine at Crestwood Medical Center and in 2007 he became Director of Sports Medicine for Sports Med Orthopaedic and Spine Surgery. Since 2008, he has been the Athletic Trainer at The Orthopaedic Center in Huntsville. "Each of these promotions polished Charley and gave him a unique skill set and a very good set of business experiences to go with his already keen mind for sports medicine," said Noble. Davidson was the first athletic trainer to work with the city schools, helping their athletes receive appropriate medical care following injuries. He also helped relieve the coaches from the stress of frivolous law suits, which were beginning to become widespread in the 1990s. "Charley was a pioneer in delivering these services when no other athletic trainers were offering them in the public schools at the time," Noble said. "He was the first of many. Hed go from school to school, helping coaches wherever and whenever he could, and he developed opportunities for other athletic trainers to follow in his footsteps. Nowadays, the schools are flooded with many athletic trainers who have jobs today because of the pioneering efforts of this man decades ago." While at Crestwood and later at Sports Med, Davidson oversaw the athletic training services offered by UAH. He managed the schools for which he was providing coverage, and also managed other trainers at other schools, including Grissom, Huntsville, Randolph, Buckhorn, Madison Academy, Westminster Christian Academy and several other secondary schools. For a number of years, he also tested athletes at Duke University and the University of Michigan, and has also worked as a test administrator at the NFL Combine. "There are many trainers in Huntsville and north Alabama," said Noble, "but theres only one Charley Davidson. Hes one in a million. Hes unique among athletic trainers. Hes THE pioneer in his profession in Huntsville and Madison County."